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Friday, June 21, 2013

The book is fast paced and Ethan, the main character is very unlikeable. Thank god I “discovered” that Lorimer Sidetreets is like chapter books. Once I came to that conclusion, I was able to get into the book.

Ethan idolizes his dad and wants to be just like him. Touch opens with Ethan trying to make his father proud by hacking the school computer system with a funny virus that doesn’t lead to serious consequences.

Later, Ethan is advised by her father to cheat on a project for a robot competition at school. Here I was like “seriously? What kind of book is this?” Don’t despair my people, it all makes sense!
As I said before, Touch is a quick read that deals with issues of dishonesty, trust, doing what is right, arrogance and even humbleness. I think this is a fantastic read for middle school students.

Given, at the beginning the story is a little slow, but once you are past that, it goes fast.

Haley, Ethan’s sister, accused their father of sexually molesting her. And what does Ethan do? He doesn’t believe her and sides with his father!

I think this is the part where many bloggers have issues with the story. In cases like this, we assume that everybody is going to be on the victim’s side. But remember, Ethan adores his father and he has no reason to believe Haley.

I found this to be very realistic. How many times have you read about kids telling their mother that they are being sexually abused but their moms refused to believe them? I have read that a lot. So I was not surprised to see that Ethan, merely a teen, is in denial too.

What follows up after this revelation is what makes the book so appropriate for teens. Without going into gore details, we learn how Ethan deals with his father not being quite the role model he thought him to be.

The story is simple and quite to the point. If you are expecting something deep, profound, or heart breaking, you’ll be disappointed. Once again, the story is a fast, uncomplicated read perfect for teens.